Helena Louise Morrissey, Baroness Morrissey, (; 22 March 1966), is a British financier and campaigner.

Early life

Morrissey was born in Bowdon,

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

, in 1966. She grew up in

Alverstoke Alverstoke is a small settlement which forms part of the borough of Gosport, on the south coast of Hampshire, England. It stretches east–west from Fort Blockhouse, Haslar to Browndown Battery, and is centred east of the shore of Stokes Bay and ...

near

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

, and was educated at

Bishop Luffa School Bishop Luffa School, named after a former Bishop of Chichester, Ralph de Luffa, is a co-educational Church of England secondary school located in Chichester, West Sussex, England. The number of enrolled pupils was around 1,400 in 2010, in eight ...

. Both of her parents were teachers. She studied philosophy at

Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge Fitzwilliam College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college traces its origins back to 1869 and the foundation of the Non-Collegiate Students Board, a venture intended to offer academically excellent students of all ...

Career

Morrissey began her career at the New York and London bond desks at

Schroders Schroders plc is a British multinational asset management company, founded in 1804. The company employs over 5,000 people worldwide in 32 locations around Europe, America, Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Headquartered in the City of London, it ...

. Finding her career path blocked there, she moved to

Newton Investment Management Newton Investment Management is a investment management firm based in London. It is subsidiary of BNY Mellon Investment Management. History The firm was founded as Newton in 1978 as a joint venture with Scottish insurance broker Reed Stonehous ...

in the early 1990s as a fixed income fund manager. Morrissey became Newton's chief executive; as of 2015, it manages £47 billion of assets. Morrissey left Newton Investment Management in 2016. She has been on the board of Legal & General Investment Management and St James's Place. In July 2021, Morrissey joined the board of

AJ Bell AJ Bell is a British public limited company that provides online investment platforms and stockbroker services. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 250 Index. History The company was formed in Manchester ...

, before becoming chair in January 2022. Morrissey announced in September 2022 that she was resigning as chair of the Board. All Perspectives Ltd, the company behind the

GB News GB News is a British free-to-air television and radio news channel. The channel is available on Freeview, Freesat, Sky, YouView, Virgin Media and via the internet. Since 4 January 2022, an audio simulcast of the station is available on DAB+ ra ...

television and radio news channel, gained the Baroness as a director in November 2022.

Campaigns

In 2010, Morrissey established the

30% Club The 30% Club is a campaign group of business chairpersons and CEOs taking action to increase gender diversity on boards and senior management teams. It was established in the United Kingdom in 2010 by Helena Morrissey with the aim of achieving a m ...

to campaign for greater female representation on company boards. She is a trustee at the Eve Appeal, which raises money for

gynaecological cancer Gynecologic oncology is a specialized field of medicine that focuses on cancers of the female reproductive system, including ovarian cancer, uterine cancer, vaginal cancer, cervical cancer, and vulvar cancer. As specialists, they have extensive t ...

s, and she is a former chairperson of the corporate board of the

Royal Academy of Arts The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its purpo ...

Honours

In 2016, Morrissey was awarded an honorary doctorate by the

University of Cambridge , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

. Morrissey was appointed

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in the

2012 New Year Honours 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. I ...

for services to UK business and promoted

Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(DBE) in the

2017 Birthday Honours The 2017 Queen's Birthday Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded as pa ...

for services to diversity in financial services. On 3 September 2020, she was created ''Baroness Morrissey, of Chapel Green in the Royal County of Berkshire''. On 28 September 2020, she made her maiden speech in the Lords.

Personal life

Baroness Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often Hereditary title, hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher th ...

Morrissey and her husband, Richard, a former financial journalist and stay-at-home dad, are the parents of nine children, three boys and six girls, one of whom is musician

Flo Morrissey Florence Elizabeth J. Clementine (née Morrissey; born 25 December 1994), better known by her stage name Flo Morrissey, is an English singer-songwriter from Notting Hill, London. She has released two albums and three singles, and has toured inter ...

. They met whilst studying at Cambridge and live in

Notting Hill Notting Hill is a district of West London, England, in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Notting Hill is known for being a cosmopolitan and multicultural neighbourhood, hosting the annual Notting Hill Carnival and Portobello Road M ...

, London.

Other activities

Morrissey is the author of a book, ''A Good Time to be a Girl'' (Harper Collins, 2018). She was the guest on the

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC that replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. It broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history from the BBC' ...

programme ''

Desert Island Discs ''Desert Island Discs'' is a radio programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4. It was first broadcast on the BBC Forces Programme on 29 January 1942. Each week a guest, called a " castaway" during the programme, is asked to choose eight recordings (usu ...

'' on Sunday 22 March 2020. Morrissey was criticised in 2021 after she tweeted that there was no current pandemic, and "CCP fake videos started this". In October 2021 her second book, ''Style and Substance, a Career Guide for Women who want to Win at Work'', was published by Little, Brown Books.

External Links

Profile
at Parliament

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Morrissey, Helena 1966 births Living people Women chief executives Money managers Place of birth missing (living people) Alumni of Fitzwilliam College, Cambridge British chief executives British women business executives British Eurosceptics Women in finance Dames Commander of the Order of the British Empire People from Chichester Schroders people People from Altrincham People educated at Bishop Luffa School Conservative Party (UK) life peers Life peeresses created by Elizabeth II